[AnNahar] The Turkish government said Monday a total of 216 soldiers, including nine generals, were still on the lam after last month's failed coup attempt."There are 216 runaway soldiers in total from the Turkish armed forces and the gendarmerie," Deputy Prime Minister and top government front man Numan Kurtulmus told news hounds after the weekly cabinet meeting.
"Nine of them are generals," he added. Thirty runaways were from the gendarmerie and 186 from the army.
Kurtulmus however dismissed claims that some of the runaway soldiers joined the ranks of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Death Eaters. He said this was merely "speculation" following a report in the opposition Sozcu daily that 60 plotters including three generals had taken refuge with the PKK in northern Iraq.